Saturday, August 30, 2008

The Bad Lands was an area adjacent to Little Cheyenne, on Clark Street north of what is now Roosevelt Rd. If anything, it was considered even more depraved and dangerous than Little Cheyenne. "Big Maud" ran an omnibus house of dissipation near Roosevelt Rd. called the Dark Secret during the 1880s, offering drink and women for $0.25. Another famous Bad Lands madam, Black Susan Winslow, ran a ramshackle house on the same block. When the police attempted to arrest her, they found that, at 449 lbs., Madam Winslow could not be removed through any of the doors or windows of her dive. Finally, the back door was removed from its hinges and the frame and wall sawed out. A heavy rope was fastened around the portly Madam's waist and she was forcibly dragged to the police station by horse.